Excerpt: Eleanor and the Beast

Eleanor kept a list of everything she ever stole in a notebook. Since this was very incriminating evidence, she took a biblical approach and hid it in a manila envelope taped to the bottom of Granny Fay’s wheelchair.
“I’m not fond of people, but I like you.” Granny Fay told her quite often, with a pat on the head. “You’re not like my deplorable grandchildren.”
Granny Fay was forced to move in with her son and daughter-in-law once it was decided she could no longer live alone. Moving into a home for elderly people was not an option. She once told Eleanor that living in a home would be like drinking tea with the grim reaper every morning.
They were kindred spirits in a sense, both trapped in the pristine home of Emily Henderson and neither of them wanted.
Eleanor technically wasn’t related to the Henderson family. The only reason she was allowed to stay after the death of her parents was because her stepfather was dear Aunt Emily’s brother.
If Eleanor had any other family she would have traveled across the Pacific Ocean in a rowboat to reach them.